MORE SINGLE WOMEN AND WORKING POOR SEEKING ASSISTANCE

Local social service officials are concerned by an emerging face among the needy -- single women with no homes or families are seeking assistance.

Meanwhile, the number of working poor -- people who have minimum wage jobs but can barely make ends meet -- continues to increase.

Maj. Bob Gauthier, corps officer with the Salvation Army, said the trend of seeing more assistance requests from displaced women alarms him.

"I don't know if it's because of drugs or alcohol use affecting those individuals or if it's the social climate of our day," he said. "But we are seeing quite a few of them. These are women with no family, no children, no homes."

Gauthier said the primary request from those women typically is for housing assistance.

"We try to give them one or two nights' housing vouchers and then into some type of permanent facility with the help of other agencies," he said.

The working poor make up a large percentage of assistance requests for local agencies.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that about 7.2 million people were classified as working poor in 1998.

According to a 1998 study commissioned by Chicago-based Second Harvest, the country's largest charitable hunger-relief organization, families in which at least one parent works or try to work make up the highest percentage of people seen by organizations such as the Salvation Army or the East Missouri Action Agency.

The study indicated that 36 percent of recipients have either a high school diploma or equivalent, and 39 percent of all households that received emergency food had at least one adult with a job, nearly half of which were full-time.

Kevin Sexton, community services representative for EMAA, said those statistics often are reflected in requests the agency receives.

"One population that I've seen a larger increase in since I've been working here are the working poor," he said. "Mom and Dad are working full-time jobs, but they're only making minimum wage."

Gauthier said the working poor is a group from which the Salvation Army frequently receives assistance requests.

Dented paychecks

Figuring that a person working full time at the minimum wage rate of $5.15 might take home around $350 every two weeks, car payments, insurance and rent quickly make a dent in each paycheck.

"I don't know how they make ends meet and keep the vehicle going and pay the insurance," Gauthier said.

"Sometimes the cost of keeping those things going takes up an entire paycheck. They use one check for the car and the next for lodging. That leaves nothing for food and necessities."

In 1999, the local Salvation Army gave away 9,758 food orders, which Gauthier said was up 46 percent from 1998. Food orders are groceries people can take home.

In addition, during 1999 the organization saw a 10 percent increase in the number of people coming in for meals and a 63 percent increase in lodging requests.

In all, the organization provided assistance to almost 25,000 people during 1999.

Gauthier said those numbers are revealing to him.

"It says to me that individuals who are back to work really are just squeaking by so they have to turn to nonprofit agencies to meet some of their needs," he said. "The dollar is just not stretching as far as it should."

Sexton, who has worked for EMAA about two and a half years, said the trends with requests and people who are making those requests seem to come and go.

"There was a time when I was seeing a lot of single males. That has kind of tapered off," he said.

"I don't think the need for any certain group increases or decreases. I think certain ones find out about programs available for them."

In the meantime, the Salvation Army will continue to try to meet the needs of people who go there seeking assistance -- especially the working poor, Gauther said.

"It becomes a real struggle for them," he said. "But when you know you can really help someone get back on their feet, that's a blessing."